Siblings!
by BronwynBrian
Summary: A James/Lily AU. Lily is Sirius' sister, and he's been telling the other Marauders about her for the year that they've known each other. What happens when they finally meet her, and does James keep his head? DISCLAIMER: NOT JKR, DIDN'T MAKE WRITEY BOOKS, DIDN'T TURN SAID WRITEY BOOKS INTO FILMS. SO THERE irregular updates
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

**_SIRIUS' POV_**

_Sirius' first day at Hogwarts. Sorting is over, and everyone is in their respective common rooms/dorms. Sirius is unpacking his things, but keeping a wary eye on his new room mates. After a while, the tallest of the three walks over to him._

"Hi, mate," He said, running his hand through his already-tussled hair. My eyes flickered quickly between his face and his hands, and he backed up a bit, giving me some space. I inwardly relaxed, but tried to make sure that he didn't notice it. One of the boys in the corner did, I could tell, but I ignored him, and focused on the boy in front of me instead.

"Hello," I responded evenly. He grinned at me.

"So, what's your name?" He asked quickly. I smiled grimly.

"Sirius Black. What's yours?" I smirked when he looked at me sharply, but tried to make sure it wasn't too obvious.

"James Potter. These two-" He gestured to the other boys in the room, who were still standing where he left them. "-are Peter Pettigrew-" The boy on the left waved slightly at me, so I nodded. "-and Remus Lupin." The other boy nodded at me and smiled slightly, and I felt myself begin to blush. Out of all of the boys, he was obviously the sharpest. I definitely needed to keep an eye on him.

While I had been eyeing Remus Lupin, James had continued speaking. "Y'know, I think we're going to be awesome friends. But to become awesome friends, we need to know each other a bit better. Who's up for a game of "truth or dare"?" I glanced up at him and grinned.

"I'm down. What about you guys?" I aimed the last bit towards Remus and Peter, who still hadn't moved. They looked at each other, but both nodded. James and I grinned at each other, and promptly sat down on the floor. The others joined us, forming a circle. "So, who wants to start?"

* * *

Two hours later, we all knew almost everything about each other. For example, James was an only child, his parents were _old_, he loved Quidditch, and he was aiming to become a professional Quidditch player when he was older. Remus was also an only child, his father had died many years ago (we didn't know how, but none of us were stupid enough to keep pressing), he had all of the books that were needed for the year ahead (and some that we didn't) already, and he wasn't sure what he wanted to be when he was older. Peter was an only child as well (when we'd found this out, I burst out laughing. They all looked at me strangely, so I said "Am I the only one who has a sibling here?" to which they all nodded, laughing along with me.), his mum was a nurse, his dad was a gambler and barely ever home, and he wasn't sure what he wanted to be either.

I had made sure that I hadn't told them anything I didn't want to know about me, so, in the end, I had told them that I had a younger sister called Lily, who would rip your dick off if you looked at her funny, my dad wasn't around anymore, and my mum stayed in her office all day, working on some piece of work or another. I also told them that I wasn't sure what I wanted to be, but I was currently thinking either Auror or professional Quidditch player, like James. James and I had shared a grin when I told them this, and I knew that we were going to be best friends.

"Hey, do any of you know pranks?" James asked suddenly. My ears perked up at the word "pranks," and I looked at him. He grinned. "I'll take that as a yes. So, I was thinking, as we're roomies and we're going to be living together for the best part of seven years, why don't we become pranking buddies, too?" I grinned back.

"Hell yeah! This is going to be amazing!" I leant over to James. "Have you got any ideas?"

* * *

Finally, the last day of the school year swung around. "So, Sirius, when do we get to finally meet your 'baby sister'?" James asked me teasingly. I grinned and swatted at him.

"Eventually, I'm sure. I wouldn't recommend calling her that in front of her, though. She'll probably slap you," I laughed at the look on his face. "Don't pretend to be so scandalised; surely I've told you enough about her that you'd be able to work that out by now." It was true - through the year, we had been learning more and more about each other, and one of the things that the boys never got tired of hearing about was my baby sister. I would constantly regale them with tales of things that we'd gotten up to at home, and, when I received letters from her, we would all sit around the common room fire, and read them together.

The other side of that was true, as well. We wrote back and forth very often, and while she told me storied of what was going on in "the outside world", I'd tell her stories of the four of us, the Marauders, and the latest prank that we'd pulled, or what the teachers were like, or what Snivellus had done that week. Slowly, the other boys began to write to her as well - it started with James stealing my parchment and adding bits on to the end, then progressed to Remus sending full letters to her, when she expressed an interest in being able to talk to them without it having to go through me first.

Reading that had made me laugh, and of course that then meant I had to explain to my room mates about how she'd found out that I was censoring messages that she was receiving when we were younger, and how she'd blown up at me when she caught me out. That story kept them entertained for weeks, and they teased her about it when they wrote letters back to her. She sent letters back berating me for telling them, and berating them for laughing about it, as it had been a "very serious matter" and I "should be ashamed" of myself, both for doing it and for telling them.

I smiled to myself. Soon, we would be back at King's Cross Station, and I would be able to see her again. I couldn't wait.


	2. A Letter? For me?

**_LILY'S POV_**

"Leeeeellllllleeeeeee!"

I sat up abruptly, hitting my head on the low ceiling in my room. I slumped back down onto my bed, hand on my head, where I'd just whacked it. "Oowwwww," I moaned quietly. I heard a snicker next to me, and rolled over quickly. "Oh, it's _you_." I said snappily, and he grinned at me. 'Don't _smile_ at me, Sirius Orion Black! My _head hurts_, and it's _all your fault_!" I couldn't help grinning back, though. That's just how it was in our household. He woke me up, I complained, we shared a smile in much the same way as sharing a secret, and we went to find breakfast. I flicked my gaze to the alarm clock, and my eyes widened dramatically. "What the Hell, Si? It's not even eight yet!" His grin just got bigger.

"Guess what, Lil!" I eyed him suspiciously.

"You've been banned from another bar? You've fallen in love? You've... Blown up something again? You've decided that another neighbour was too loud, so you started blaring your music stupidly loudly again?" He shook his head to each of my suggestions. I rolled back over to face the ceiling. "I dunno, then. It must be earth-shattering for you to be getting me up this early, _especially_ in the middle of the summer holidays!" I paused as a stray thought crossed my mind, and I sat up again, this time avoiding the ceiling, swung myself out of the high bed, and landed lightly on the floor. I looked at him again, then circled him, looking him over. He smirked and stayed still. It was another game that we'd played many times.

Eventually, I was in front of him again, and he collapsed into the chair behind him. "Do I _finally_ get to meet these friends of yours that you've been going on about for the past year?" I asked excitedly. He shook his head, chuckling.

"Not in the way that you're thinking, Hon." I eyed him critically again. The only way I could meet them was if they came over to our house... Wasn't it? He laughed again at my confused expression, then grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's go and have breakfast. I'll explain at some point."

* * *

When we finally reached the stupendously huge kitchen, I stopped in the doorway, and stared. On top of the table was a huge snowy owl. In its beak was a letter. I turned slowly to face my brother, who was fidgeting excitedly.

"Sirius...?" I asked, barely able to comprehend what I was seeing. He shook his head.

"Not a prank, I swear." I looked back at the bird, then, after Sirius gave me a little shove, took a step towards it. It turned to look at me, and I stared back resolutely. It took a step towards me, and I did the same, the I reached out to grab the letter from its mouth. I reached for it rather aggressively, but when I grabbed the letter, I pulled it gently. To my surprise, the owl opened her beak for me to pull it out, then took off.

My eyes scanned the front of the envelope anxiously. If it were for Sirius after all that... But it wasn't. It was for me. I jumped around the kitchen, hugging Sirius when I got back to the door. He grinned and spun me around in circles, careful to avoid hitting the door frame.

"Do you think I should write to the guys?" I asked him, eyes twinkling mischievously. He looked me up and down for a second, then grinned back cheekily.

"Let's leave it as a surprise, hey?" He said, and I laughed and hugged him again, because oh my GOSH I was going to Hogwarts, and it was going to be amazing, with my brother and his friends and the new people I would meet, and the magic that I would learn...

I was so wrapped up in my happy thoughts that I didn't hear Sirius start to speak again. "What?" I blinked up at him. He laughed.

"I said, seeing as they've never met you, and they've never seen a picture, either - shall we see how long it takes for them to work out who you are? You've seen more than enough pictures - you should be able to work out who they are fast enough." I grinned back. This was going to be fun.

Then, I glanced back at the letter - and burst out laughing. "Oh! Si, look, they've addressed the letter to a "Miss Lillian Evans", which means that there's no way they're going to get it from my name," I said, still laughing. Sirius beamed.

"Well, Remus might, but I'm sure he won't say anything to the others - he's smart, that one."

"Actually, Si, I think they'll all work it out faster than you think they will. After all, you're you, and they're boys, and I'm new... It's almost impossible that they won't check me out, which means, if you want this to work, you can't hit them or say anything if they do start looking at me like that." He looked wounded for a second, and I grinned at him. "It's okay, you can hit them once they've worked it out," I said, and he smirked, cracking his knuckles.

"However, another thing is that we won't be able to ride the train together, unless they work it out really quickly, and I won't be able t sit with y'all until they do - oh! Unless I somehow manage to become friends with you, or Remus, I suppose..." I continued rambling, working out what we could do in other scenarios as we walked to the lounge, where we wrote down our plans, then moved on from our prank, and began to discuss everything under the sun.

* * *

For once in my life, I had woken and risen before Sirius - not that I was surprised, of course. It was my first day at a massive new school, where I would have no friends, no way of escaping people, not even Si there to keep an eye on me, especially not if we wanted this prank to work, so I allowed myself the little cluster of nerves roiling in my stomach.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, I noticed that it was nearly time to leave, so I snuck up the stairs to wake Sirius - see how he liked the rude awakenings that he often gave me.

When I reached his room, however, I heard a voice. No, make that two, or maybe even three. My eyes narrowed. How on Earth did he manage to not only sneak them past the wards and our mother, but me, as well. I knew that I am not omnipresent or omnipotent, but still.

I crept silently towards his door, close enough to hear the voices. There were definitely four, and one was definitely Sirius, but I couldn't place the other three. Maybe it was the other Marauders...? But surely Si would have told me - what would happen to the prank if they caught sight of me? I stopped worrying for a minute to listen in to their conversation.

"...Mirrors would work!" Sirius said. My mind went in to overdrive - what mirrors? Work for what? Then I was interrupted by another voice.

"Yeah, yeah, Sirius, we know, just shut up about it already." It had a smooth, melodic quality to it, and I stored it away for further examination later. Everyone laughed, including my brother, and I turned away from the door while I had the chance. Unfortunately, my foot caught something on the floor, and I tripped slightly, muttering an expletive under my breath. The laughter stopped abruptly.

"Did you hear that?" A new voice asked, and everyone fell silent. "I think it came from your end, Sirius." Sirius swore.

"Okay, right, I know who it is then, don't worry about it. I'll just go and grab her, make sure she doesn't tell mum - I'll be back in a minute, okay?" He didn't wait for an answer, and the door opened before I had the chance to fully right myself, and turn around. He was grinning when I did. "Hello, little sister! How're you on this fine morning?" He asked cheerfully, then mouthed "sound upset" to me. Used to acting, thanks to growing up in a household of nutjobs, I instantly went into "angry Lily" mode.

"Oh, I'm just amazing, how are you this morning, Sirius?" I spat, trying desperately to keep from laughing at the faces he was pulling.

"Awesome!" He said, loud enough to be heard through the door. He caught my eye and winked, and I nodded to show that I had understood what he was trying to do. "Look, Lils, can you not say anything about this to Mum? She'd kill me if she found out that I'd nicked 'em." I sighed dramatically.

"Fine, whatever, you do what you want. It's not like anything I can say will stop you," I said scathingly, stomping my feet as I pretended to walk away, getting quieter and quieter. Eventually, I stopped, and gestured into the room. Si nodded and gave me a thumbs-up. Obviously he'd wanted me to do that - why, I have no idea.

I waited outside his door for a few moments, but when I didn't hear anything, I sighed and went back down to the kitchen to see what there was to eat.


	3. Platform Nine and Three-Quaters

2.

SIRIUS' POV

I was stood with my friends on Platform 9&amp;3/4, waiting anxiously for Lily to come through the magical barrier. James and Remus kept shooting strange looks at me, and I knew that I was acting very strangely, but I couldn't help myself. If only we hadn't come up with this stupid plan!

I forced myself to turn away from the entrance and to talk to my friends, but no sooner had I done that then James gasped loudly. "Holy shit! Fucking Hell, she's fit!" He grabbed my arm and swung me around to face the direction I'd just been looking. "Hey, she's looking at us - d'ya think I should wave?"

I, of course, had instantly seen her - I didn't call her Carrot Top for nothing - and tensed when I realised that James really was talking about her in exactly the way that she'd predicted. I tried not to tense, but I couldn't help myself. My hands curled into fists, and it was all I could do to not smash James' face into the ground, who, of course, hadn't noticed.

I glanced around at my other friends surreptitiously. Peter was staring at Lily with his mouth open too, but Remus was eyeing my tense arms and clenched fists curiously, so I forced myself to calm down. I never normally cared if James fancied someone, especially if it was someone neither of us had ever met yet, and that was what I had to pretend for this to work.

I turned to James and grinned, though it probably looked a bit forced. "Don't think she's your type, mate - you know what they say about redheads and their tempers," I told him, trying to make it look like I couldn't care less if he decided to act on the dirty fantasies that were no doubt going through his head right now.

I looked back at Remus, who raised his eyebrows at me. I just shook my head. I wasn't going to help him, even if it would mean that Lily would be able to sit with us, and I would have someone to complain about James to, because I sure as Hell wasn't going to tell my baby sister the disgusting images that were undoubtedly flowing through his mind. I'd promised her that I'd try, so I would. I wouldn't mess this prank up just because I couldn't control my overprotective side.

Thankfully, Remus pulled me out of my berating. "Shall we adjourn to the train, lads?" I grinned at him thankfully, and he nodded at me slightly.

"Let's-a go!" I cried, and practically dragged James from where we were standing. He was still staring at my little sister, and I nearly dragged him into more than one lampost.

As the four of us made our way to the train, I glanced back at my sister. She was looking at us so sadly, and it broke my heart. However, there wasn't anything that I could do. We'd made the plans, now we had to stick to them. I lifted my hand to her slightly, and she saluted me cheekily, which made me grin.

We clambered into the first compartment that we found that was empty, and settled down for the train ride, that would apparently be full of James gushing about Lily; her hair, her eyes, how beautiful she was, what we thought her name was, what year we thought she was in... I leant my head back against the window of the carriage and tried to block out James' incessant talking.

It was going to be a long ride.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LILY'S POV

I stood at the very edge of the crowded platform, full of children and their parents saying tearful goodbyes, scanning the crowd, trying to find my brother and his friends. When I finally spotted them, they were all already staring at me. I figured that Sirius wouldn't have snapped already, so that meant I must have been right. I smiled grimly. Sirius was in for a long half-year.

The boy on Sirius' left started waving at me, and I looked down at the floor, pretending to be shy, whilst trying to work out which one he was. I looked back at him through my bangs. He was Sirius' height, with fluffy black hair, brown eyes, and glasses. So, that would make him... James! I smiled to myself when I worked it out.

However, I could see that there was trouble brewing over there. Even from this distance I could see Sirius tensing, obviously trying to not smack James for whatever he was saying. I glanced around the group, and noticed that the other tall one - must be Remus - looking me over appraisingly. However, unlike James' looks, it felt more... scrutinizing than lust-filled. I nodded at him, and he smiled at me. Then, I nodded at Sirius and then to the train, hopeful that he would understand what I was asking him to do. He seemed like that kind of bloke. He nodded at me once, then turned to the Marauders, saying something that I couldn't hear. Whatever it was, it made Sirius skip past James, grabbing him from where he was standing and towing him towards the train with the rest of them.

I watched them go sadly, giving Sirius a single cheeky salute when he turned to wave at me, and smiling for him, so he wouldn't feel any more guilty than he already did.

Once they'd gotten onto the train, and I'd given them enough time to find a compartment, I started towards the train myself. I wasn't really watching where I was going, and I accidentally walked into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." I said quickly. I didn't want to make enemies before I'd even gotten onto the train.

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't either!" A happy female voice replied. I looked up at her through my bangs shyly. "Hello," She continued kindly, smiling at me. "I'm Alice Prewett, this is my first year. What's your name?" I smiled back shyly.

"Lilliana Evans," I responded quietly. "Fellow first year." She grinned at me.

"Really? What luck! Do you want to sit with me on the train?" My eyes widened. Why was she being so nice to me?

"If that's okay with you, I'd love to!" I replied enthusiastically, and she grinned in delight, grabbing the hand that wasn't holding onto everything and dragging me onto the train with her.

"Y'know, I think we're going to be very good friends. Hey, what house do you want to get put into?"

"Gryffindor, I think. That or Ravenclaw, I guess." I replied, giggling as she looked into compartment after compartment, but tensing every time the doors slid open, in case it was my brother.

"Ohmigosh, really? Me too? Well, I don't think I'd fit in with the Ravenclaws very well; I'm much more of a 'up-'n'-at'em' kinda girl than a 'let's sit down and work this out logically' kind." She eyed me. "You look like a mixture of both, y'know. I think you're going to end up being able to choose what happens." I looked at her with wide eyes.

"You - you get to choose? I thought there was some form of Sorting or something...?" I stuttered, shocked. She grinned at the look on my face.

"Yeah, that's all first years are supposed to know, but I ended up in the Great Hall with last year's lot, so I know what happens." I almost fainted with relief. She raised a hand to stall any questions that were going to come tumbling out of my mouth, and I smiled sheepishly. "I can't tell you what it is, though, Lils, you know that!" I shook my head at her.

"Fine," I sighed. "Could you at least tell me if it's scary or not?" I begged her with my eyes, and now it was her turn to sigh.

"Honestly? It depends on what you're scared of."


	4. (Welcome to) The Marauders?

**3.**

**SIRIUS' POV**

Sat in the warmth and relative comfort of the Great Hall, my concerns about the prank we were pulling were downsized. This, however, didn't stop me from anxiously checking the door that the first years were going to enter through again and again. I knew that Remus had noticed my odd behaviour, but he didn't say anything about it, probably in return for none of us mentioning his odd behaviour every month. Well, it was either that or he wanted to work out what was wrong before he confronted me about it. I guess either was possible.

I tried my best to join in the guys' quiet conversation as we waited for those who were going to be sorted, but I'm pretty certain that everyone could see that I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy worrying about Lily's reaction when she found out about what happened during the Sorting. She was shy, almost painfully so, and I knew that she was going to hate what she was going to have to do.

My heart broke for her, and how I wouldn't be able to support her too obviously, and how I wouldn't be able to cheer too loudly when she got into Gryffindor, as she so obviously would.

The sound of the doors opening brought me out of my melancholy thoughts. I turned and watched with the rest of the school as the first years filed quietly into the Great Hall.

* * *

**LILY'S POV**

I walked nervously into the Hall behind Alice, trying my hardest to hide from all of the older years who were staring at us as we passed, but also trying to subtly look for my brother as we walked down the centre of the Hall. I quickly worked out which table was which house (it went Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff from left to right), and started eyeing the table directly to our left. I crossed my fingers and hoped against hope that Sirius was sat on the side of the table closest to us. I needed his strength.

Suddenly, Alice stopped, causing me to walk into her again. She shrugged off my whispered apology, and pointed in front of her, at a stool with an old hat on it, and next to it was the stern looking professor who had guided us down here. I nodded and smiled at her to show my thanks, but didn't pay attention to what the Professor was saying, instead letting my eyes continue to wander up and down the Gryffindor table.

Eventually, I spotted my brother and his friends. They were sat right near the front if the Hall, which is why I hadn't already seen them. Strangely enough, they all seemed to be staring at me, and I could have sworn that I saw James do a little half wave and wink at me, but I didn't have time to contemplate whether or not I'd actually seen it, as I was being shoved none-too-gently towards the stool. I walked hesitantly up to the professor, who smiled at me kindly, and picked the hat up off of the stool, gesturing for me to take a seat on it. I perched shyly on the edge of it, trying my hardest to ignore all of the eyes on me, and watched the teacher.

She gently placed the hat on my head, holding onto it for a second to make sure that it didn't fall forwards onto my face, and I smiled at her in thanks. Suddenly, I heard a quiet voice pipe up in my ear, and I jumped slightly, but tried to not show how disturbed I was.

"Hmmm... very smart - oh yes, extremely intelligent, but maybe not Ravenclaw for you, eh? I think you'll fit in better in GRYFFINDOR!" It said, shouting the last word. I felt the hat being lifted off my head again, and the friendly-but-stern teacher gave me a reassuring smile as I walked quickly down the steps to the wildly cheering table. I took a seat right at the front, as far away from everyone as I could, and waited for Alice to be Sorted, hoping that she would get put in Gryffindor too.

Thankfully, after a few nerve-wracking moments of waiting, the Hat yelled "Gryffindor!" and Alice came to sit next to me. Now that my fears had been reassured, I began scanning the hall again. I avoided looking around Gryffindor's table - I really didn't want to know what they were up to - so instead I tried to find other people that my brother had mentioned in his letters. I managed to find most of the girls that Sirius had crushed on and/or snogged (he was so lucky that he and I had the same... _taste_ in girls), and of course the second year Slytherins were easy to work out, as they were all glaring fiercely at the spot on the Gryffindor table that was currently occupied by the Marauders.

Not that I'd been looking down the table at the Marauders, of course. I hadn't seen all of them staring at me, I hadn't noticed James' lust-filled glanced, and I definitely hadn't seen them all looking shiftily up and down the Hall. After all, I really didn't want to know what they were up to.

Instead, I turned to Alice, who was sitting on the side furthest away from them, and began a big discussion with her about Hogwarts.

"So," I began, "how come you were here for the Sorting last year?" I winced slightly to myself - _God, that sounded so much better in my head_ \- and crossed my fingers that she wouldn't take offence to my tone. I really didn't want her to stop talking to me; I would be so lonely, especially while I couldn't talk to Sirius.

Thankfully, she smiled, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's a funny story, actually..." She told me, giggling to herself. But then she stopped, and the giggling took on a different tone. I shrank into myself a bit, in case something bad happened. Her eyes were focused somewhere behind me, and I tensed up, then turned, slowly, to peek behind me. I had an idea as to what it was that she was staring at, but I was hoping against hope that I was wrong.

As soon as I saw them behind me, I swung back around to face the table. Admittedly, it was _not_ going to hard for them to figure out that I'd seen them, but I had to at least make some kind of effort. Could he not keep them away from us for one friggin' day?

"Well hello there, ladies!" A voice said behind me, and it jolted something in my memory. I had heard it somewhere before, but where?

Before I had a chance to work it out, Alice was replying excitedly to it. "Hi!" She squeaked, quickly pulling me around to face them again. I didn't bother resisting, it would just bring attention to the fact that I didn't want to talk to them, if they hadn't already realised it. I plastered a smile on my face, one that I had thankfully perfected after living in the Black household, and gave them all a quick once-over.

They were all looking at me expectantly, and I realised that I needed to save my inspection for later. "Um, hi." I said quietly, dropping my head to look at the floor, avoiding their eyes. One of them chuckled, and I realised that looking down was probably the worst thing that I could do. James would undoubtedly think that I was attracted to him, and that was the last thing I wanted.

"What are your names then, lovelys?" The same voice from earlier said, and I glanced up through my fringe to see that it was James. He had such a nice voice, smooth, melodic - and of course, that was where I'd heard it before. He was the voice that I'd heard in Sirius' room this morning.

I glanced sideways to see if Alice was going to reply any time soon, but she looked star struck. I guess James had focused his "dazzling" smile on her. "I'm Lilliana Evans, and this is my friend Alice Prewett." I told them, keeping my head down, but making sure my smile was still in place for when I looked back up at them.

When no one said anything, I looked expectantly at the one I assumed was Remus, hoping that he would get them to introduce themselves, as I doubted anyone else would have the piece of mind to make their way out of the uncomfortable silence that we'd settled into. He smiled at me lightly, then nudged James.

"Ow, what?" He said, turning to look at Remus. They obviously had telepathy down pat, and James turned back around to face us almost instantly. "Oh, right, sorry. I'm James Potter, and these are my friends, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black," he said, pointing to them all in turn. I was pleased to see that my assumption was correct, and I had managed to work out who everyone was pretty easily. I nodded to them.

"Nice to meet you."


	5. Top of the Food Chain

**4.**

**LILY'S POV**

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God." Alice hyperventilated as we followed the prefect up the stairs to our Common Room. I patted her back sympathetically.

"Are you okay, hun?" I asked, steeling myself for the inevitable tirade that I had put into motion. She looked at me with wide eyes.

"Okay. OKAY?!" She yelled, making people turn to look at us. I glared at them, and they quickly turned back to their own conversations. She took a deep breath, calming herself. "Do you know who they are, Lily?" She asked, quieter this time. I decided to play stupid.

"Who, them?" I asked, gesturing to the crowd of people in front of us. "Nope, not a clue." She smacked my arm with her hand.

"Don't pull that with me, Missy." She said, wagging her finger dramatically. I giggled at her, and she laughed with me, until she suddenly went serious again.

"Really though, do you know who they are?" She said. I debated kidding around again, but decided against it. I was already going to have to lie to her a bit, I didn't want to make it any worse.

"Potter and his lot from earlier?" I questioned, and she nodded. I paused for a moment, unsure how to word this so I wasn't technically lying. "Uh, I don't think so?" I said, a question obvious in my voice. "Should I?" She gasped dramatically.

"Of course you should!" She cried. I stifled my giggles with my hand. "They're the Marauders! They are, like, the top of the food chain here!" I shrugged dismissively.

"So?"

"So? SO?" I was beginning to realize that Alice was one of those people who would repeat words just to show their incredulity about them. "So, the top of the food chain, heart-breakers and second year Marauders just explicitly came to talk to us, and you aren't fazed at all?!" I shrugged again. I've never really cared about things like that, and the fact I already basically knew them because of Sirius made it effect me even less.

She stared at me for a minute, waiting for another reaction. Getting none, she gave an over-dramatic sigh and walked through the Common Room to our dorms, dragging me with her so I didn't have time to look around. _Oh well, I'll have seven years to do that_, I told myself, allowing her to pull me up the stairs.

As soon as we got into our dorm she threw herself on a bed and, having not let go of me, dragged me with her.

"Ouch!" I said, more trying to pull a reaction from her than from actual hurt. I wanted to see what my new friend was like. She just snorted at me, not bothering to move from her position on the bed.

"You'll get over it." She told me matter-of-factly. I snickered; she laughed. "But anyway..." she sighed, and I groaned.

"Not still on about Potter's Boys, are we?" I asked her, only half pretending to be sick of it already. She sat up at that, and wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

"Oh, so it's Potter's boys, is it?" She asked conspiratorially. I blushed a little, trying to not let her see. I didn't like him, but I was always embarrassed when people asked me things like that. I tried to look at her and pretend to not be fazed, but I could tell she didn't believe it for a second. I raised my eyebrows. She giggled and fell back onto her back on the bed. "It's okay, you can have him. I prefer Black, to be honest." I spluttered for a second, trying not to start laughing. _Oh, the poor girl She's already been taken by his "charming ways"._

* * *

**SIRIUS POV**

I stomped up the stairs to my room. James was still talking about his meeting with the girls earlier, and it kept reminding me of the fact that I had already failed at keeping Lily and James away from each other. I know that's not what Lily wanted, but I knew how James was with girls, and I didn't want him breaking her heart. It would ruin everyone's relationship with each other!

I reached our dorm room first and threw open the door, making it hit the wall violently and loudly.

"Jeez Sirius, are you okay?" James asked me. I turned to face him, fuming, and then realized how weird I was acting. They didn't know, and I had to make sure that this prank worked. _It's for Lily. I can do this._ I thought to myself. I forced a smile.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine!" I said over-cheerfully. He raised his eyebrows at me, and I shrugged at him with a sheepish grin. They filed past me into our room, and Remus eyed me suspiciously. James walked in last, with me right behind him.

"PMS much?" I heard him say under his breath. I laughed out loud.

"Oh James, how could you know? Get me chocolate!" I cried. The other Marauders started laughing, and I threw myself onto James. "Oh, woe is me!" I said over-dramatically.

"Get your fat arse off of me, you idiot boy!" James panted with laughter.

"Never, my dear! I love you far too much!" I didn't move from where I was lying on him, so Remus and Peter took this as their cue.

"Doggy pile!" Remus yelled, then the two of them were on top of both of us, and I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

_This is what I want the rest of my life to be like._

* * *

I was bored. Remus was reading, Peter was hurriedly trying to scratch out an essay for McGonagall, and James was sleeping. None of them were interested in doing anything fun at all!

I lent out of bed to grab my parchment and quill. "Hey Sirius, whatchu doin'?" James inquired. I jumped.

"Jesus, I thought you were asleep!" I cried, pretending to grab hold of my racing heart. "Don't scare me like that!" He snickered at my antics.

"What are you doing though, mate?" He repeated when I started going through my things to find what I needed.

"I'm gonna write to Lily... wanna join?" I smiled, gesturing at the table next to the bed. He grinned at me.

"I'd love to!" He replied excitedly.

"Come sit over here then, you idiot." I directed him jovially, finally finding the equipment. I shoved some parchment at him when he reached me, and gave him one of my quills. "I better get that back at the end of this, Jamie!" I teased him. Remus burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but join him when I saw the look on James' face.

"Stop calling me that!" He cried crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why, Jamie-wamie?" I sniggered. "I thought you liked it when people called you that? Or is it just when your precious girlfriends do?" James stuck his tongue out at me, and I pushed him away, laughing. "Is that the best you can do?"

James stood up from where he'd stumbled to the floor. "Oh, you wanna see what I can do, eh?" He raised his fists, and I did the same, still snorting with laughter.

"Come at me, Jamie-wamie," I said. "Or we'll just have to assume you're too scared to fight me!"


	6. A Fight?

**5\. **

LILY'S POV

When I woke up in the morning, I couldn't remember where I was. I was in an unfamiliar bed, and I could hear someone else breathing steadily. I didn't want to open my eyes, but I knew I'd have to. As soon as I did, I relaxed. I was in my dorm room with Alice sleeping on the bed next to me. I stifled a giggle - she was sleeping with her mouth wide open, and her arm hanging off the bed.

I suddenly thought of a prank. It was one I'd seen Sirius use on many occasions, and although it was easy to do, it always had hilarious results.

I tiptoed into the bathroom and grabbed some of the shaving cream we had, then crept back to Alice and sprayed it gently into her hand. I paused every time she stirred slightly, but she didn't actually wake up properly. I started tickling her nose gently. It started twitching, and I could see her slowly waking up more and more. Her hand flew up to her face, but I jumped out of the way just in time.

"Wha'...?" She asked, squinting around the room. Then she saw me lying on the floor, holding my stomach because of the hysterics I was in. She glared at me as best she could with cream all over her face. "I'm going to get you for that, Lilliana!" She cried, then flounced to the bathroom to shower and clean her face. I giggled at her retreating form, then started to get changed.

* * *

"You know, that prank is awfully similar to one of the ones that James Potter played on the Slytherins last year... Been exchanging tips, have we?" Alice asked slyly when she finally emerged from the bathroom. I scoffed at her not-so-subtle attempt to get me to admit something, but still had to turn away from her to hide my rosy cheeks. _Perks of being a red-head._

"No, Alice, I don't like him!" I responded. She sniggered. I span around to find her topless, and quickly turned to face the other way again, hiding my face in my hands.

"Oooh, touchy touchy." She tutted. I shook my head at her antics, and grabbed her arm.

"Come on you brat, let's get some breakfast!" I pulled her with me out of our room.

"I'm not a brat!" She told me tartly, and pulled her arm out of my grasp so we could walk down the stairs together. I smirked at her when she turned her nose up at me, and I couldn't help but laugh at her face.

"Oh shut up! I bet you can't do any better!" She said, pretending to be offended. I smiled mysteriously, then stood up straight and put on a haughty look. She gasped, and I couldn't keep it up any longer. We both burst into laughter, doubling over and gasping for air.

Without warning, someone ploughed into me, knocking me backwards. I put my hands out to catch the person, keeping them from running anymore.

"Woah, are you okay?" I asked the girl in front of me. She was small, but still taller than me, with dyed neon-green hair and a curvy physique. Alice moved closer to us.

"Oh, hey Clarice!" She exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she just smiled at me. "Have you guys met? Clarice, this is Lilliana, Lily, this is Clarice! We're all in the same dorm." My shoulders dropped, and I relaxed my tense stance. _That's why she looks familiar..._

"Nice to properly meet you, Clarice." I said, shaking her hand. "Are you okay? You were running pretty hard just then..." She looked at me with curious eyes.

"Haven't you heard?" She asked us. I looked at Alice, who looked as confused as I felt.

"Heard what?" We asked simultaneously. Clarice eyed us, then dragged us to the comfy seats so we could sit down and listen.

"The Marauders - there was a fight, apparently between James and Sirius. Everyone is talking about it, apparently they seemed really upset with each other." Alice and I stared at Clarice, shocked.

"Really? Why? When? Where? Are they okay?" I asked, firing off question after question at the girl. I wanted to shake her, yell at her to tell me what I needed to know faster.

"Last night, quite late. From what I hear, it started in their dorm room, and then it moved down into the Common Room." She looked at me critically, as if deciding whether or not she should say the next bits. I nodded at her, so she continued. "There's a big rumour circulating that it's about some girl that they both know... I'm not sure how legit that is though." I nodded slowly, letting it all settle in my head.

"Are they okay?" I asked her calmly. She nodded.

"I think so, but apparently they're in the Hospital Wing currently. They're both bruised and sore, but they'll definitely live." I nodded to her again.

"They're such idiots." I said offhandedly. "Who has a fight on the first night?" Alice smirked at me.

"The Marauders, duh!" I shook my head and stuck my tongue out at her. She giggled. "Come on guys, let's go have some breakfast, and we can gossip more, Clarice!" She cried, standing up abruptly and grabbing both of our hands. I was starting to get that she didn't really understand personal space.

I looked at Clarice behind Alice's back, and she shrugged at me, so I decided to go along with it too. Ignoring the bad feeling that I was the reason that the boys had been fighting, I strolled down the hallways with Alice and Clarice to get to the Great Hall so we could finally have some breakfast.

"I hope it's something nice..." I said wistfully. Alice stopped walking to stare at me.

"It's always nice, you idiot! They have so many foods here, anything you could ever want! They have toast and jam and eggs and bacon and cereal and fruit and porridge and..." Clarice and I rolled our eyes at each other, and let Alice continue her tirade as we dragged her down the stairs.

* * *

SIRIUS POV

James and I were sat up in beds next to each other, while Remus and Peter were in the chairs between the beds. We were all calming down from a laughing fit, shushing each other and giggling more. I had a sudden thought, and sat straight up in my bed.

"Oh, hey James!" I called. He looked up at me, still laughing quietly under his breath.

"Yeah, Sirius?" I smirked at him, and Remus shook his head at me.

"You know I won, right?" I sniggered. James glared at me. Remus put his head in his hands. Peter was looking back and forth between us with wide eyes.

"Sirius, really? You need to stop talking." Remus told me sternly, and I shrugged at him, still staring straight at James.

"That's not true you numbskull, there was no winner!" James responded, pretending to be angry.

"Oh, wanna bet?" I asked him snidely. He shrugged, and motioned for me to go over to him.

"Fight me again, let's see who _really_ wins." He said smugly. I raised my eyebrows nonchalantly.

"James, you know you can't beat me! We literally just proved that." I sighed, pretending to be sad for him. He fake-glared at me.

"Screw you, Sirius!" He cried, flopping back onto his bed. That set all of us off into loud laughter, making the other occupants of the Wing properly glare at us.

"Boys!" A voice thundered, but it didn't faze us. I turned to face the owner of the voice, and smiled prettily at her.

"Yes, Poppy dear?" I asked charmingly, then burst into laughter again.

"Be quiet! There are people in here who need their rest!" This just set us off into more laughter.

"We don't even need to be here, P!" James called, and we all nodded in agreement.

"That's true!" I span to look at James. "Bye Pops, see you soon!" I called as we started to walk out of the Hospital Wing. "We'll probably be back tomorrow for whatever reason!"

"Good riddance," I heard her mutter under her breath. "But I know you'll be back as soon as you can be, you silly boys."


	7. Breakfast

LILY'S POV

"Mmm, this is so good!" I said, reaching for another piece of toast to eat with my runny fried eggs. Clarice and Alice snickered next to me.

"If you eat any more, I think you're going to explode!" Alice snorted, then burst out laughing with Clarice.

"Pshh, breakfast is the most important meal of the day," I responded dismissively, shoveling the bread and yolk into my mouth. "And you need to have a big breakfast to keep you going for the rest of the day, just in case you miss lunch." I finished seriously, eyeing the two girls to my sides.

"She's right, y'know." A masculine voice said, right behind my head. I jumped and bit back my squeal of surprise, before turning around slowly. Alice and Clarice were nowhere near as calm as me, and spun around instantly, faces instantly reddening in the presence of the so-called "hottest boys of the school". I sighed and waved slightly, still preoccupied with my delicious bread and egg that I was just finishing.

"Hey boys, what do you -" I paused halfway through my sentence, suddenly looking up at them. I looked them over quickly, letting my eyes skim over their bodies. "Didn't y'all have a fight? Where are the bruises?" Sirius winced slightly, knowing he'd be getting an earful next time we were alone together. James just smirked.

"Why babe, you worried about us?" I glared at him, and Remus groaned.

"No, Madame Pomfrey sorted these two idiots out last night." He responded. I smiled at him in thanks.

"Oh, well then. Please could you leave?" The boys looked at me blankly, while my friends continued to drool over them. "They won't eat with you here, and I want to finish my breakfast, thank you very much." I informed them steadily, gesturing at the girls, who quickly tried to look like they hadn't just spent the entire conversation staring. James and Sirius grinned, and simultaneously shook their heads.

"Oh no, we haven't had breakfast yet either!" Sirius said wickedly, and I glared at him as the four of them proceeded to shove the kids sat around them off the bench, promptly sitting down in the now-vacant seats. James and Sirius sat on the inside, right next to Alice and Clarice, who began stuttering and blushing like crazy again, while Remus and Peter sat on the outside, sniggering quietly to themselves. I shook my head at my friends' antics, and stole some more toast.

Eventually, after a lot of bickering from me and blushing from my friends, we were all full. I leaned back slightly, rubbing my stomach contentedly. Looking around the Hall, I saw a lot of faces staring at me and my friends. As soon as I glanced over at anyone looking at us, they would instantly duck away, turn back to their friends. I narrowed my eyes and turned to face Sirius.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" I asked nonchalantly, holding tightly on to my chair under the table. Knowing how much I hated being stared at, Sirius instantly tried to calm me down.

"Because we're sat with you, that's all. I think they're waiting to see if we're gonna pull anything yet." I nodded, accepting his reasons, and losing some of the tension in my body. I was about to make a snappy comeback, but I was interrupted by one of the teachers coming up behind our little group.

"Minny!" James and Sirius cried together. I rolled my eyes at their antics, and she pursed her lips slightly - I could still see the smile she tried to hide though.

"Professor, if you could _possibly_ manage to call me such a thing, boys." She said snidely. I covered a giggle under my hand, and her eyes shot to me. Instead of calling me out like I thought she would, she winked at me. "Right, here are your timetables for this year. Lesson, teacher, classroom, floor -" She pointed out different parts of my timetable as she spoke. "- and of course the house you're sharing these lessons with. Don't be afraid to ask any of the older students for help if you're confused or you get lost; they've all been in your place before." She reeled off her little speech quickly, glaring at the boys surrounding us half-heartedly when she finished. "Maybe don't ask your new… friends, though," She warned us. "They'll send you in to the Forbidden Forest instead of your lessons, no doubt." They all tried to protest, but shut up when she glared at them properly. "Right. Off to lessons, you'll need to find out where they are as well - make sure to give yourself some extra time until you know the layout of the castle." With one last look at our little group, she turned and walked to the next group of students to distribute their timetables.

"Blimey," I said. "Who the hell is she?" James snickered, but it was Remus who answered, giving him a nasty look.

"That's Professor McGonagall. These two idiots are trying to annoy her as much as possible, and like to call her by silly little nicknames." I smiled slightly; I wasn't that surprised, to be fair. They obviously really liked her, though, and she must like them too - why else would she smile at their jokes?

"Forget Minny, what lessons do you little-un's have today?" Sirius asked. I scrunched up my nose at him. Looking at my timetable, I saw that I had-

"Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and History of Magic." I looked at Clarice in shock; not only had she spoken without being specifically asked, she also had all of the same lessons as me! Noticing my expression, she smirked at me. "Yeah, all first years in this house have exactly the same lessons. Do try to listen at the Opening Feast next time!" I stuck my tongue out at her, and she retaliated in kind.

James, who had leaned over to peer at Alice's timetable, groaned. "That's all well and good guys, but you're sharing with the _Slytherins_." Sirius stiffened.

"Are you kidding me?" He grabbed Clarice's paper and glared at it. "First lesson of the year, and you're gonna be stuck with all the snotty Slytherins. Jeez," he sighed. "Don't let them taint the rest of the day for you, most classes are actually pretty interesting." I nodded at him discretely, winking at Remus when he looked at me strangely.

"I'm sure we'll be fine. What's the worst a group of first year Slytherins gonna do?" I said, trying to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach. Sirius didn't look convinced, but there wasn't much anyone could do about it. Most people were finishing their breakfast and slowly drifting out of the hall. I took this as our cue to leave. "Come on, then!" I said, jumping up. "Let's go find this Charms classroom, shall we?" The others all groaned at my cheerfulness.

"It's too early in the morning for you to be that happy." James complained. I snickered at him.

"Oh, trust me. I'll probably get more and more against mornings as the year goes on. Take advantage of my happiness while it lasts!" Still moaning about morning people, the rest of the group stood up. I skipped over to where James was still sat in his chair, refusing to go anywhere. Instead of trying to coax him up - that's what Alice was doing - I grabbed his arms and pulled him off his seat.

"No…" He whined, trying to go back to sitting down. Ignoring the laughter of our friends around me, I pulled him backwards until he landed on his ass on the floor. He sighed, then reached his hand out for a boost off the floor. I didn't take it.

"You can get up on your own, that's the oldest trick in the book." I told him. "You'll have to do better than that." I turned to Clarice and Alice. "Shall we go to Charms?" Giggling, they agreed. "Ladies first." I said to them, winking at Sirius as they walked out ahead of me. I quickly waved goodbye to the Marauders, James still sat on the floor, and ran after the girls.

"That was so great!" Clarice gushed when I caught up to them. I grinned, stopping to bow.

"I'm here all week!" I paused. "And the week after that, and then after that…" I trailed off as the girls laughed at me.

"Seriously though, we need to go to Charms now." Alice said. I could already tell that she was going to be the practical one out of the three of us. A sudden thought struck me, and I smirked to myself.

"Say, Alice. You seemed to enjoy James Potter's closeness just now." I mentioned offhandedly. Instead of blushing like I expected, she just smiled.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that to you. It's so obvious you like him. I saw your face when you had your arms around him." I glared at her, and she smiled innocently.

"I was making him get up!" I cried, indignant. Clarice chuckled next to me.

"Awwh, does little Lily fancy the James Potter?" She giggled. I huffed and tried to look down on them - which didn't work as they're both taller than me - then turned to walk off.

"Come on Alice, we're gonna be late, remember?" I called behind me, hearing them scurry to catch up to me. They'd stopped giggling. "Any ideas where we're going?"


	8. AN, sorry guys!

Hi guys!

I always told myself that as a writer I would never just put out an author's note on its own - I know just how annoying they are. However, I also know that irregular update times and long gaps between updates is also annoying, so I figured that, as I've somehow got such a big reading response from this story, I ought to explain myself a little.

Writing for me is a hobby, something I do when I have the time and I'm inspired enough to actually put something down on paper. However, as I'm sure all of you writers out there will understand, I'm not always necessarily inspired about writing this one story; I've got another posted story on the go on a different site, along with hundreds of unfinished plots, plans and ideas, and recently my friend and I decided to do a webcomic (with better uploads, I promise!). So basically, I'm doing lots of things in terms of writing, and I'm also just about to start my second year of A-Levels, so I've been stressed about that and University things, and it makes things like writing for pleasure and my other hobbies get pushed to the end of my to-do list.

I'm really sorry about that, and I will try to update more regularly, but it probably will continue to be this terrible until I've sorted my life out and I have time to just stop and relax with it.

But yeah, that's all I wanted to tell you guys. I hope you're having good times with your lives and whatever it is you're doing with them, and that you're doing things you love!

~Bronny


	9. Pranked

_**LILY'S POV**_

Clarice, Alice and I to a stop in front of a large, imposing door. We glanced at each other nervously, then I took a step forward and pushed it open as quietly and gently as possible. As it swung open, it revealed a few other people in our year that I recognised from the Welcome Feast. The majority of them were Gryffindors, and they smiled at us as we walked in, panting. We sat down in the first row with 3 spare seats.

"That was close!" I exclaimed quietly to my friends, getting my quill and parchment. They nodded in agreement, hastily taking out their own things.

"Talk amongst yourselves for a moment, children. The lesson will start in just a minute," the Professor at the centre of the room said. He was tiny, and more than one person looked around wildly when he spoke - they obviously hadn't noticed him when they - or he - walked in. I leant back in my chair a bit, and grinned at my friends.

"Today is going to be a good day." Clarice told us both, and we nodded at her, grinning.

Suddenly, I felt a tingling on my body. I looked down and saw that my robes had suddenly started flashing bright, neon colours. I glanced sideways and saw that it had happened to my friends' robes too. We looked at each other, confused - and then we were covered in water. I gasped, and stood from the chair. I spun around. Stood in front of the door laughing hysterically was a group of second year Slytherins. I recognise one from the descriptions that Sirius had given me - Severus Snape. He glared at me when I made eye contact with him. They all slipped out of the slightly-open door, leaving us stood there in our soaking wet and flashing neon robes. I slowly turned back to facing where the professor was stood, and exchanged glances with my friends, who looked as miserable as I felt about the situation.

At that moment, the Professor turned around and saw us dripping on to the floor. He looked shocked, eyes widening in a way that would have been funny if all of the Slytherins in the class weren't pointing and laughing at us. He sighed.

"Go and clean yourselves up; honestly, can I not turn my back for just one minute?" He shook his head, disappointed. I felt the corners of my lips pulling downwards, and knew that I would start crying in a minute.

"Excuse me Sir, but it wasn't their fault! Some Slytherins came in and did that to them!" A Gryffindor boy called out to Professor Flitwick. His eyebrows rose slightly, but when all of the other Gryffindors began calling out affirmations of what he'd said, he nodded to himself.

"Fine, fine, here." He said, then waved his wand at us. Suddenly, our robes were dry and back to their normal shape, and we could sit down again. He waved his hand airily at us. "Let's get on with the lesson now then, children." I tried my hardest to stop myself from crying, but I couldn't stop the few tears that slid out of my eyes. I quickly rubbed them away, not wanting anyone to know how upset I was, and got out my quill and parchment to begin taking notes. I felt my friends look at each other around me, but I ignored them and continued to write everything that he said.

* * *

_**Sirius' POV**_

I was nervously sat in the Common Room with my fellow Marauders, waiting for the three girls to come back from their first ever lesson at this school.

"Are you okay, mate? You've looked at the portrait hole 20 times in the past 5 minutes." James asked me. I quickly spun back to look at my friends.

"Yeah, I'm fine! I just wanted to see how our new friends' lesson went, y'know?" I responded, anxiously looking them over to make sure they weren't too suspicious. James nodded, then started off on another rant about Lily and how attractive she was, with Peter nodding along. Remus, however, looked at me suspiciously. I smiled nervously at him, and he looked away to pay attention to James.

Suddenly, the portrait hole opened, and in walked the three girls we had just been discussing. I stood up and wandered over to them, the other boys following behind me. "How'd your first class go then, girlies?" I asked in a funny voice. Remus nudged me and shook his head.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked. I looked them over properly, and noticed that Lily was hiding her face from me, and the other two were looking at her, concerned. Clarice went to speak, but Lily quickly interrupted her.

"Yeah, we're fine. We'll see y'all later, okay?" She grabbed Clarice and Alice's hands and dragged them up to their dorm without waiting for a response. We all stood there, shocked.

"Um… what the fuck?" I asked, turning to face the boys. They all shook their heads, shrugging.

"Hey, come here a second!" James called to another first year who'd been in the morning class with the girls. He looked confused, but wandered over to us anyway.

"What's up?" He asked us nonchalantly. I raised my eyebrows, prepared to remind him who we were, but James started talking before I could.

"Were you in Charms just now?" The boy nodded. "Did something happen with Lily and Clarice and Alice?" His eyes widened and he shook his head frantically, backing away from us. I glared at him.

"Tell us what the fuck happened to them, right fuking now!" I yelled at the terrified boy. He quickly began stuttering his way through an apology, but I waved him off. "Get on with it." I growled. He gulped and nodded.

"S-so, it was all fine and, and we were all getting to know each other, and th-then some of the green ones-" _Slytherins_, I thought. "-in the y-year above came in, and charmed their clothes all w-weird and covered them in water and-" James cut him off.

"Where the fuck was your teacher in this?" He asked scathingly. The boy turned to face him.

"It w-was at the beginning of the lesson, he was s-setting up?" He questioned more than stated. We ignored it.

"Do you know who the Slytherins that came in were?" Remus asked. He shook his head, making me sigh. "Well, were they girls or boys?"

"Oh!" His face brightened slightly, glad there was a question he could properly answer. "It was… a girl and two boys? One boy with really greasy hair, like he really needed a shower..." He trailed off when we looked at each other grimly. "Uh… are you okay?"

"We're fine," Peter told him, then made shooing motions with his hands. "Go on, go back to your friends." He nodded and walked off, shooting glances at us as he did so.

When he was far enough away, we all turned to face each other, faces grim. James ran his hand through his hair, a annoying habit that I'd noticed myself picking up. "This is all our fault." He said sadly. We all nodded. "We have to fix it!" I glared at him.

"Fix it? I'm gonna beat Snivellus' fucking ass so hard he won't be able to move for weeks!" James and Peter looked at me strangely, but Remus just looked on calmly.

"Si, what the fuck? You've only known these chicks for like two days - and I mean I know they're attractive, because hot damn that red-head, but that doesn't warrant a full on beating? You need to calm down, mate." My eyes widened, _shit._ I'd forgotten the prank that Lily and I were pulling. I racked my brains for a plausible excuse, mentally wincing at the knowledge that Remus was going to be even more suspicious now. _Sorry Lils…_

"Yeah, but they only went after the girls because we showed an interest in them!" I sighed quietly in relief as the boys seemed to accept what I said. I deliberately refused to even glance at Remus, knowing he'd be able to read me far better than the other two.

"As true as that is, we can't just beat them up; we'd get in way more trouble than if we did anything else," Remus told us, ever the voice of reason. "We can easily just prank them to get them back." I sighed, knowing I'd have to go along with it - at least until the truth came out about Lily.

"Fine!" I complained. "But we need to do it soon, like, tomorrow soon!" The others exchanged bemused glances, but I was adamant. We needed to show those fucking Slytherins to not mess with us or our friends.

"It'll take a little while to work out who they are though…"Peter trailed off as I glared at him.

"We'll just aim it at Snivellus-" I sneered as I said the name that we'd given him. "-an all of his stupid little friends."

"Okay, fine." Remus sighed. "At least let us make sure it only hits them," he paused as I nodded eagerly. _As long as it's soon I don't give a shit._ "And we need to make sure it won't get the girls in more shit, as well." I nodded along to this, as did James and Peter.

"Sorry mate, hopefully it'll only be the rest of today and the beginning of tomorrow to get this sorted - we can do it at dinner time!" Peter told me sympathetically. I nodded, still annoyed, but calmer now that I knew we were going to get them back for this.


End file.
